Witch Is The Catastrophe Herself
by GlassSkinned
Summary: In which a young ordinary magician fled from her parents and decided to master the very thing she always loved; magic. By herself.
1. MARISA

**Disclaimer**: Touhou Project is owned by Team Shanghai Alice.

**Warning**: Even though Reimu and Marisa's fourth-wall breaking conversation in Story of Eastern Wonderland amused me to no end, this fanfiction won't acknowledge PC-98 canon.

* * *

**~Aphorism~**

_"The little girl was born believing that she was essentially powerless. Little did she know, that the thought itself would change her existence enormously."_

* * *

**~Prologue~**

The power to manipulate fate, the power to control the flow of time. The power to destroy everything at will. The ability to manipulate death, manipulation of boundary. The power to create and erase history. The manipulation of eternity, immortality. The power to create miracles, sky, and earth.

And the list goes on.

And on.

And on.

Even the human of the paradise and the faithful servant were already gifted.

From this perspective, it left me, the mortal witch, with no choice but to learn the difficult way.

...

"I am searching for strength," was what I always said to myself, even to this day.

"I am struggling for power," was just a mere delusion made by a powerless human being, even to this day.

"I am seeking for capability," but in the end, I'm still capable of nothing.

"But for what reason?" I once asked to no one in particular. No answer.

"But for what purpose?" I asked the lonely but glimmering star of the dull sky. There was no answer.

"But for what aim?" I asked once again, yearning for an answer, but to no avail.

Was it for my pride? Was it just for a boast, made merely to make my existence known? Was I being too idealistic? Did I do all this in order to protect something, someone? Like those clichéd fairy tales I read, where the hero needs to become stronger and stronger in order to save the damsel in distress? Was that it?

Ah, _of course_.

"It's all just for a meaningless..."

Of course, in a world where the strong eat the weak, where the humans are among the lower tier of food chain.

"Survival of the fittest."

...

This _was_ my story. It took place in such world; a world called Gensokyo.

* * *

**GlassSkinned presents:**

**W**itch **I**s **T**he **C**atastrophe **H**erself.

* * *

**~Chapter 1: Memories are reflecting in steady affirmation.~**

"Shut up! Just leave me alone!"

I stepped outside. My hand was busy carrying a huge bag filled with various things that I possessed, while the other one holding a typical witch's broom rather tightly. With a great determination, I finally decided to leave my home. Or rather, my _parents'_ household.

"Marisa! Where do you think you are going?!" hissed a loud voice. It was my father's.

"Like _you_ have to ask! I'm leaving this place!" I yelled without turning back.

"Fine, be it that way! You ungrateful child!"

The sound of wooden door followed by a loud bang then echoed through the tranquil scenery of Human Village, startled both me and the passers-by who happened to witness the very quarrel I just had with my father.

I froze for seconds, before I dashed quickly. Attempting to hold my tears before they fell from my eyes, but to no avail. I ran, I wept, I avoided the gaze of the passers-by. Somehow, I could assure myself, it would be the last quarrel between me and my parents.

_Stupid father! Stupid mother! They... don't know about my feelings at all!_

I was completely overtaken by emotions that I couldn't think straight. I was just running blindly, without knowing the direction of where I was going.

_I'm... I'm just interested in magic, what is wrong with that?! What's wrong with being different than anyone else?! They... they just don't understand! They will never understand me!_

Playing as a sad, abandoned little girl, I kept ranting inside my fragile mind as I found myself standing in front of a long flight of stone steps that led to the only shrine in Gensokyo at the time; Hakurei Shrine.

I slowly dropped the stuff I was holding the entire time before I rubbed my watery eyes. Then I took my oversized typical witch's hat from my bag and idly let my golden hair shimmering in the sun before placed it on top of my head. Carrying back my stuff, I began climbing the stairs one step at a time as I tried to calm myself down from the overwhelming emotions I felt earlier. Because, for some reasons, I didn't want _her_ to see me like this.

It was a really long stairway indeed; it took me a good minute before I could reach the top. The first one to greet my advent was a rather large red torii gate. From the distance, I could see the shrine maiden of paradise herself, who also happened to be my friend. Or I'd rather call her my best 'sidekick'; Reimu Hakurei.

"Yo, Reimuuu!"

Reimu was in the middle of sweeping the porch before turning to the voice.

"Marisa? Good morning," Reimu greeted.

"Yeah, morning!" I forced a false grin. "You already sweeping your shrine? Man, you sure are a hard worker."

"Not really. It's just the usual," Reimu idly waved her hand. "It's not like you to come here this early in the morning."

"Ah, y-yeah... I just woke up earlier than usual and decided to come here, is all," I reasoned.

Reimu, however, seemed like she could see through my lies easily, which made me feel kinda uneasy. She stopped her sweeping as she looked firmly at me.

"Hey, I just realized now that you're carrying a huge bag there," she narrowed her eyes at it. "What's inside it?"

"Oh, t-this? This is just a... um... trash! Yeah! I was about to throw this somewhere in the forest before coming here!" I didn't know why I had to lie to her. But then again, those metal scraps I gathered at that time technically are, well... trash.

"Then why did you bring your trash bag into my shrine?!" Reimu angrily glared. "You aren't really planning to throw it here, are you?!"

"Of course not! Well then I'm going now see ya!" not knowing what to do anymore, I hastily turned to leave before...

"Wait! Wait, Marisa!" Reimu called.

"Y-yes?" I turned back.

"Actually..." she looked at me. "Do you want to have some tea first? It's really cold today," as she said that, she turned and walked toward the shrine.

I stared at her confusedly. ..._What's going on? Just a moment ago she was angry, and NOW she offered me something?_ But at the time I could think of nothing better to say than, "...Sure."

I followed Reimu to the veranda, where Reimu putted her broom near the donation box and entered the shrine as I searched for a comfortable place to sit on.

_Well, not that I'm really going to throw away my stuff, even though the majority of them are useless. Now that I think about it, I just can't seem to be able to throw stuff away. Man, I'm amazed at this myself._

As I sat there while deep in thought, my mind couldn't help but recall the fight I had with my father earlier, as much as I didn't want to remember it. And just like the majority of humans, I tended to think only on the negative aspects of someone or something while entirely ignoring the positive ones. Especially when emotions got the better of me.

Their rigid behaviour.

Their strict attitude.

Their close-minded way of thinking.

The more I thought about them, the more I became annoyed. My expression was filled with the mixture of anger, anxiety, grief, and abandonment.

"-risa! Marisa!"

"Geeh! What is it?!" the sudden voice jerked me back into reality.

"Honestly! No matter how many times I called you, you just didn't respond!" Reimu angrily pouted. "Here, your tea."

"A-ah...? Y-yes, thank you," I timidly accepted her offer. It was a half-full cup of green tea, the kind of tea that this shrine maiden usually brewed. I stared at my reflection on the tea's surface; a small, troubled face with melancholic yellow eyes and a short blonde hair, adorned with a big pointy black hat stared back at me.

Sighing deeply, I closed my eyes and sipped the tea. It was as refreshing as ever. It was soothing, and felt so clean. Before I knew it, my body had relaxed itself.

"Have you calmed down yet?" Reimu asked without looking at me.

"Yeah, I think..." a sigh of relief escaped from my lips.

I wasted no time to gulp down the entire tea in one go. The warm, fuzzy feeling cleaned my mind and I was on the verge of forgetting all the bad things that had happened a while ago, which is a good thing.

"Thanks for the tea, Reimu!" I grinned toothily, no longer faking it.

"No problem," Reimu returned offhandedly. "In return..."

Reimu looked firmly at me as she put her own empty cup of tea on her side.

"Mind telling me what happened to you, Marisa?"

...

**~To be Continued~**

* * *

Good day, dear readers. Pen name's GlassSkinned. Nice to meet you and thanks for reading this fanfiction.

This is the first _proper_ fanfiction I've ever posted. Truth to be told, I'm not much of a writer. And as a non-native speaker, my english isn't _that_ good. So if you happened to notice any grammatical errors and/or the likes, please let me know and I'll correct it as soon as possible.

Not much to say here, to be honest. So hopefully you enjoy(ed) my story so far, and _hopefully_ we'll meet again in the next chapter.

_Sampai ketemu lagi._


	2. REIMU

**~Chapter 2: Resolving every incident marvelously unsophisticated.~**

...

"Mind telling me what happened to you, Marisa?"

I was taken aback by Reimu's sudden question.

"What happened to... me?"

Reimu nodded.

"...What happened to me? Nothing is... I'm fine," I tried to laugh it off, except that I failed miserably at it, resorting to only smile bitterly. "Whatever you're talking about, Reimu?"

Reimu could only shake her head and facepalmed upon hearing my response. "Really... you don't realize that you're such a bad liar, do you?"

And I did realize that she was right; I sucked at lying. In this circumstance where I could say nothing to counter her back, I could only hang my head helplessly.

"For your information," Reimu continued, holding her hand up to count off the points. "Your eyes and cheeks are _still_ wet. Your legs _were_ trembling. Your grin earlier _just_ seemed unnatural. You're just _plain bad_ at lying. And lastly, though it's just a wild guess, I have this feeling that what you're holding is _not_ a trash bag."

I dropped my jaw upon my first time witnessing the shrine maiden's high intuition. Just like that, she could easily read me like an open book.

"Um," Reimu scratched her head. "So, do I get everything right, somehow?"

Still hanging my head, I managed to reply, "Y-yes... you're right, Reimu..."

"Well... I don't know what exactly happened, but you really are hiding something, aren't you?"

"I... I'm..."

My heart was aching. I felt that I shouldn't keep this to myself; but when I opened my mouth, there were barely any voices. Seeing my uncomfortable expression, I could see Reimu suddenly regretted her blunt question as she grabbed her tea kettle and poured the contents into my cup.

"...I'm sorry to suddenly ask you about it," Reimu said in apologetic voice. "I'm really not trying to-"

"No, Reimu! It's... it's okay, it's not your fault..."

Reimu sighed as she put her tea kettle on her side.

"If you feel like telling me about your problem, don't be hesitant about it. After all," she stood up and looked at me, smiling brightfully. "I'm your friend, aren't I?"

Seeing her genuine smile, I couldn't help but return her smile and feel a rather warm feeling in my chest. _Yes, she's right. She is my first and only friend at this moment. And more importantly, my best friend._ However; before I could say anything regarding her kindness, she had already walked toward the shrine's main hall and disappeared, leaving me by myself. It wasn't until a moment later that I heard Reimu's voice from inside the shrine.

"For now, just drink the tea first, Marisa."

"Okay!"

I reflexively nodded to nobody in particular as I brought my attention to my cup. I took a sip of my tea as its effect began to affect my mind. Once again, the tea had helped my body to relax. And consequently, my sleepiness became more unbearable for me to withstand.

_That's right, I didn't even sleep at all last night. I was too busy with my little experiment, and then THAT happened and I fled from my house. Not to mention that I dropped a river on my way here._

Sighing, I let myself rest on the shrine's tatami.

_...I don't even want to think about it anymore. So irritating._

At this precise moment that I discovered that sleeping on tatami floor was actually way more comfortable than sleeping on my own futon. Or maybe it was just because I was so tired at the time.

_I really should get some sleep. Fuuaaa..._ I yawned loudly. _Since when did Reimu's tatami become this cozy anyway..._

With that, I finally closed my eyes before letting sleep claim me. As my vision slowly faded, the only thing I could remember was Reimu's voice telling me to not fall asleep in the veranda.

* * *

"Morning, Marisa."

"G'morning... Reimu? It ain't even morning... Oh yeah, I fell asleep, didn't I?"

"You did. For a long time, even."

It was already near dusk when I woke up, and I fell asleep early in the morning. _Man, was that some slumber I've ever had._ Still yawning, I noticed a piece of blanket wrapping my body.

"This..."

Reimu, still drinking her tea, responded, "I told you not to sleep outside. What if you catch a cold?"

"...Thank you, Reimu. And I'm... sorry."

"Sorry for what?"

"N-nothin'."

We stayed silent for a while, enjoying the serene evening and the scenery of the nature around the shrine. I looked at Reimu as she enjoyed her cup of tea. Wait, don't tell me, did she just drink tea since the morning?

"Did you really just drink tea since this morning?" I echoed my thought.

"You know me well, Marisa." Reimu nonchalantly answered. "After all, tea is the greatest thing since sliced daifuku. Or so I've heard."

I sweatdropped. "Heard from... whom?"

"_That_ newly opened Daifuku shop. You know, the one with the ad that I think it says, 'it's the greatest forward step in the confectionery industry since wagashi was first manufactured.'"

"Oh, yeah. That."

"I still prefer dango, though. It goes well with my tea the best."

"I see." _Wait, this isn't what I'm trying to ask!_ "I mean, you're just sittin' here drinking tea all the time since I was asleep?"

"_What_ else do you want me to do? Because no matter how hard I'm sweeping," Reimu pointed at the shrine's yard filled with fallen leaves, "they will just keep falling!"

"Well, it's autumn, after all," I nodded. "Don't you have anything else to do? Like, a shrine maiden's job? What are shrine maidens' jobs, anyways?"

"They vary. From maintaining the shrine, training perform tasks concerning sealing and purification rituals, to exorcising evil spirits. Most people see my duty as the latter, though." Reimu explained. "There's also this weird person who told me that I'm responsible for the Hakurei border and that I'm the very existence of Gensokyo itself."

"Whoa, that sounds totally awesome!" I said amusedly, even though I didn't really get what that was supposed to mean. "Who's this 'weird person'?"

"I... don't really know," Reimu shrugged. "She just came out of nowhere and said that she just wanted to see how the current shrine maiden is doing. She asked me a bunch of weird question, too. I guess she's just a weirdo."

"What kinda question did she ask you?"

"I already forgot."

"Heh... then, maybe she's a youkai?"

"Maybe. I couldn't really tell at the time."

"Wait, you're implyin' that you can actually tell whether someone's a youkai or not?!"

Reimu gave me this odd look, as if this matter was so obvious. "Of course...? Youkai may look like humans in appearance, but they also have distinguishing features that make them different than normal humans."

"Ah, nevermind," _I also already know about that..._ "I thought you have, like, inner power to tell the differences regardless of their appearances."

"Maybe I can, I don't know. I still have much to learn."

"I see. But still, I want to do those stuff too! Like, defeatin' a bunch of bad youkai that want to harm me."

"It may be a long way for you, you know."

_It's sad, but true. It's a fact that unlike Reimu who has a natural talent as a descendant of Hakurei bloodline, I'm just an ordinary human compared to her, with no talents whatsoever._

"Ah! I-I'm sorry, Marisa... I didn't mean to-"

"Discourage me?" I grinned at her as she was dumbfounded. "Like hell it would, stupid. If anything, that'd make me more motivated instead. Besides, an ordinary human, I mean, _an ordinary magician_ overpowering the famous Hakurei shrine maiden would be a thing, don't you think?"

Hearing my bragging, Reimu could only smile. "I'll look forward to it."

I snickered. "You bet!"

_Yeah, this is the way I want to be. I want to be strong, so that I don't have to live in fear of something or someone that's far stronger than me. I'll show them that I, a human, can overcome those who are far more superior beings than me! And to do that, I'll start by becoming a magician and learn about magic._

_..._

_But... how?_

_All I have are those books that I borrowed from various places. That's definitely not enough. There's gotta be more of these books in Akyuu's place, right? Maybe in Kosuzu's place, too. But there's no way I can go back to the village like this... Aagh! This won't be so complicated if there is some kind of magic school in here..._

"-risa! **Ma! Ri! Sa!**"_  
_

"Geeh?! Wh-what is it?!" Again, Reimu's sudden yell caused me to abruptly pull me back into reality.

"Honestly... you're really easy to get lost in thought, aren't you?" Reimu sighed.

"...Ahahaha, you think?"

"Whatever. Anyway, shouldn't you be going now? You know how dangerous it is to be around here at night, right?"

_That's right; they said that youkai are more active at night. It'd be a disaster if I were to be attacked by one of the kind. But, what must I do? I'm so NOT going back into that house anytime soon._

"Moreover, your parents might be worri-"

"**NO THEY WON'T!**"

.

...

"...Marisa?"

Reimu was undoubtedly shocked upon hearing my sudden scream, of course. _Damn it, why did I have to scream? Ugh... if things become like this, I might as well tell everything to her._

"Reimu... will you listen to me?" I said in a low voice.

Still bewildered, Reimu nodded. "...I'm all ears."

...

**~To be Continued~**

* * *

Three months, god dammit. _Three months_, for me to finish writing this crap! And it's very short, too. What the hell is wrong with me?

Anyway, I sincerely apologize for the long delay (not that anyone's looking forward to this). I hope this chapter can somehow make up for it, and hopefully we'll meet again in the next chapter.

_Sampai ketemu lagi._


End file.
